If your child is not Catholic

[Tiredallthetimeneedsleep]

And attends a Catholic school, do you go to Holy Mass? I'm not Catholic and have received an email invite to attend Holy Mass. I'm not sure I can go as an agency worker so not sure if I'll be working anyway. Wwyd

As a non believer I wouldn't go - but neither would I send my child to a faith school.

God, no. DS has been at a C of E and a secular primary, and he’s now at a Catholic secondary — bar a couple of nativities in the early years of primary, I’ve never been to any services associated with either religious school. I grew up Catholic but have chosen not to baptise DS.

I wouldnt send my child to any kind of faith school in the first place if I wasn't following that religion to be honest.

There is precisely one non-faith secondary in my city, right at the opposite side. DS would need to walk for a three quarters of a mile and then take a lengthy bus journey to get there. His class has six or so Muslims, a few Hindus, and quite a few non-Catholic Christian kids. DS claims he ‘looks out the window’during orayers.

My dd went to a catholic secondary and a catholic uni - but then I am in Belgium where the church seems to be overly involved in education. That being said - the school was run on a "christian" ethos with compulsory RE, but those lessons tended to be more ethics based than bible related. Plenty of kids from different religions too. I am nominatively C of E, but dd was never christened - we are not a religious household.

No services were held during the school day.

I'd rather shit in my hands and clap then let my kids go to any sort of faith school.

You are teaching them insincerity by sending them.

I have non-Catholic children at a Catholic school. We do not attend mass. If they have special services (Christmas, Easter) that are child led then we will go to watch. But not regular services, though my youngest has started to show an interest. The whole school is invited to various feast day Masses during the year but there is no pressure to attend, so long as you do not go against the values being taught by the school its welcoming to all faiths, and they are learning about all faiths. We are CofE but there was not a CofE school nearby and the local non-faith school is crap.

Because Catholicism runs through everything in a school, from prayers and songs to regular services at the local church and promoting the virgin birth, I think it must be very difficult to be a non catholic in that environment. It will only become more so as your son becomes older. Are you comfortable not believing what hes taught at school? How do you manage this?

I think if you send a child to a faith school then you should respect that faith and attend mass etc.
You have the option of non- faith schools if you don’t want to.

I’d imagine if faith is a core part of the school environment, and therefore your DC’s school life, it would be a positive to attend if you can as a way of understanding the ethos and faith community in which they’re receiving an education and some of the things they’ll be learning about.

Do the school know that neither you nor DC are Catholic? If so, and a Catholic school was simply your local catchment school, they won’t expect you to attend, it’s more about encouragement and inclusion in the school community.

Same here. I wouldn’t just go to the regular mass but if it’s something to do with my kids/something they are doing and happens to be in the church I wouldn’t miss it.

The catholic school was the best option practically and one that we thought suited our child best. I was unsure about the catholic teaching etc but another parent put it very well to me and ultimately that sold the school to us. She said at that age religion is essentially teaching children to be good humans - eg. we must look after our planet and animals because god made them. When DS older will he believe that god made the planet and animals - maybe not - but hopefully the lesson that we should look after them regardless will have stuck anyway.

I went to a Catholic school and we’re not Catholic. My parents never bothered attending anything religious.

No, I wouldn’t, unless the child wanted us to.

ps no catholic calls it ‘holy’ mass. It’s just mass.

Nonsense.

I would, yes but then I’m Anglican. I wouldn’t take communion, obviously.

You can go if you want to - non-Catholics will be just as welcome. Just don't go up for communion, or go up with your arms crossed over your chest to receive a blessing.

At our school there will typically be about 20 parents who attend masses held in school, some go up for communion and some don't. No one is making a note of which parents attend!

If your child is carrying out a role in the mass you might want to make a special effort to attend on those occasions.

OP, my DDs went to a Catholic school, and every so often there would be something special in church that we would go to. We’re not Catholics, and we certainly didn’t go regularly, but I don’t think it’s a big deal to attend something that is special for your DC or for the school. You sent them to a Catholic school: attending the odd service with them is kind of part and parcel of their education. No-one’s asking you to take communion!

Just go to the mass but at communion go for a blessing ( walk up with hands crossed across your chest) rather than taking communion.

I think faith schools have change a lot from when I was a school. If they catered for only one faith there would not be enough children to keep them going.

Our Catholic school has only about 30% Catholic children, and has teachers from different faiths, who will each teach their faith as part of RE lessons, RE is a much stronger part of the curriculum and not exclusively Catholic. So while the whole class will follow a Catholic prayer in the morning and have Catholic assemblies they are learning a LOT about other faiths and how they are not exclusive.

I was hugely skeptical before my children started at the school, but the way faith is handled has really impressed me. Pastoral care in general is far better in the school than in others in the area.

If you want to go. It's not a three line whip!

My child went to a catholic school, we were not catholic therefore did not attend any religious events but we were also not specifically invited to such things as they knew we did not practice Catholicism.

Yes, they do. It is Holy Mass.

Lots of Muslim kids in RC schools here. I doubt they go to Mass.

No

Both mine went to Catholic schools for a while and as a child I attended a convent school. Neither of my children are baptised and I was "done" into a Welsh chapel denomination as a baby as was usual. If I could reverse that I would.

As none of us are Catholic we never went to any of the services. It was never a problem.